{"nrhp_refnum":"02000444","name":"Dalmas, Jean-Pierre Auguste, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4950 Villar Lane, NE","address_restricted":false,"city":"Valdese","county":"Burke County","state":"NC","lat":35.75818290850003,"lon":-81.56422521998604,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-05-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half story stone single-family house on a hilltop at the west end of Villar Lane in Valdese, Burke County, North Carolina. Jean-Pierre Auguste Dalmas, a Waldensian immigrant stonemason, began it in 1929 and worked on it until 1948.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is an outstanding example of Waldensian stone masonry skills applied to an American house form. It is described as one of the most notable dwellings built by Waldensian immigrants in the area. Its river rock veneer and Alpine-influenced details reflect the building traditions the settlers brought from the Cottian Alps.","narrative":"Perched on a hilltop at the west end of Villar Lane in Valdese, this stone house was built over nearly two decades by Jean-Pierre Auguste Dalmas, a Waldensian immigrant and stonemason. Work began in 1929 and ended in 1948, when his family urged him to stop. Dalmas and his children quarried and gathered river rock and fieldstone, then veneered a light timber frame with it. The house rises one and a half stories on three sides and two and a half on the south, with four interior stone chimneys, a rounded porch, balconies, a semicircular north veranda and many semi-elliptical details. Inside, a central hall plan, stone fireplaces and a basement of round rock columns show his masonry. The house is recognized for architecture. It illustrates how Waldensian settlers, who came to Burke County from the Italian Alps beginning in 1893, applied their stone-building tradition to American house forms. The upstairs remains partly unfinished, and the house is still a family residence.","period_of_significance":"1929-1948","architect_builder":"Dalmas, Jean-Pierre Auguste","architectural_style":"Other: Waldensian; Other: Craftsman Influenced","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling; upstairs rooms are only partly finished, and a barn and chicken house now owned by a winery are excluded from the listing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:54.435654-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/95/7192/47719295/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/02000444.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000444/b31b53581a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000444/b31b53581a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"rossograph","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Pierre_Auguste_Dalmas_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">rossograph</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Pierre_Auguste_Dalmas_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719295","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Auguste_Dalmas_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18149207"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/burke-county/dalmas-jean-pierre-auguste-house-02000444/"}